10th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

10th Infantry Division
10th Motorized Infantry Division
10th Panzergrenadier Division
German: 10. Infanterie-Division
10. Infanterie-Division (mot.)
10. Panzergrenadier-Division
Unit insignia
Active1 October 1934 – 8 May 1945
Country Nazi Germany
Branch German Army
TypeInfantry
Panzergrenadier
RoleMotorized Infantry
SizeDivision
EngagementsWorld War II

The 10th Infantry Division was created in October 1934 under the cover name Wehrgauleitung Regensburg (later Kommandant von Regensburg) to hide its violation of the Treaty of Versailles. It was renamed the 10th Infantry Division when the establishment of the Wehrmacht was announced publicly in October 1935.

The division participated in the annexation of Austria in March 1938, the invasion of Poland in September 1939, and the invasion of France in May 1940. Thereafter it was upgraded to the 10th Motorized Infantry Division. It was later redesignated 10th Panzergrenadier Division in June 1943.

In August 1944 the division was destroyed in the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive and ensuing defensive actions. It was partially reconstituted in Germany in October, and sent back to the front as an understrength Kampfgruppe ("battlegroup").

On 1 January 1945, the 10th Panzergrenadier Division, then under command of the 4th Panzer Army of Army Group A, had a strength of 5,932 men (and was thus the numerically weakest division of its entire army group).[1]: 504 

It was destroyed again in Poland in January 1945 and again partially reconstituted in February. The division finally surrendered to the Soviets in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war.

  1. ^ Lakowski, Richard (2008). "Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karpaten". In Müller, Rolf-Dieter (ed.). Die Militärische Niederwerfung der Wehrmacht. Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg (in German). Vol. 10/1. München: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. pp. 491–681. ISBN 9783421062376.